By Kaya 959 Reporter
South Africa’s COVID-19 cases increased by more than 4 000 on Tuesday. Gauteng once again accounted for more than half the number of new infections.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases said 4 373 new COVID-19 cases were reported. The figure is almost double the numbers recorded on Monday (2 273 ).
The country’s total number of coronavirus cases now stands at 2 968 052.
The NICD said 21 new deaths were also reported. SA has a total of 89 843 COVID-19 deaths.
Tuesday’s cases per province:
- Gauteng (72%)
- Western Cape (6%)
- KwaZulu-Natal (6%)
- Limpopo (5%)
- North West (5%)
- Mpumalanga (3%)
- Free State (2%)
- Eastern Cape (1%).
- Northern Cape (less than 1%)
ALSO READ: Gauteng reaches milestone of six million vaccines administered
There has been an increase of 119 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.
During a briefing by the Health Ministry on Monday, health and medical experts said almost all COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital had not been vaccinated.
The NICD’s Dr Waasila Jassat said 87% of all admissions in Pretoria hospitals were unvaccinated.
“We have been tracking this across the country since February, and what we can say is there is a much higher chance of death among those who are unvaccinated,” Jassat said.
The National Health Department revealed that over 100 000 received their first vaccine following the announcement of a new variant. To date, 25 619 891 vaccines have been administered.
President Cyril Ramaphosa in his address to the country on Sunday, once again urged people to get vaccinated.
“The first, the most powerful, tool we have is vaccination. Since the first COVID-19 vaccines became available late last year, we have seen how vaccines have dramatically reduced severe illness, hospitalisation, and death in South Africa and across the world. Vaccines do work. Vaccines are saving lives,” he said.
